Vang Vieng

Posted by Stuart at 09:24 AM on October 19, 2002

Yesterday, Rupert and I took a 150 KM 3 hour bus ride to the small village of Vang Vieng, Laos. The bus ride went smoothly, even though the roads were often far from smooth. We stopped a few times at various villages for people to get on or off or to use the bathroom. One time we stopped at a roadside shrine and a young girl got off the bus to leave food and to burn some incense and to pray for a safe journey over the mountains.

I have no idea what this town looked liked 20 years ago when it was just a small fishing village on the banks of the Nam Song, but now it is a backpackers haven. About 80% of the buildings here have something to do with tourism: guesthouses, restaurants, lao massage saunas, tour agencies, laundries, internet cafes. Why the sudden boom? Somehow this little speck on the map has become quite popular. For one thing, it is half-way along the much travelled Vientiane - Luang Prabang route. For another, it is situated on a beautiful river with huge limestone cliffs towering above the grass huts, palm trees and rice fields. Just one more place to spend a wonderful evening drinking Beer Lao and watching the sunset.

There are also a lot of "adventure" tours to take here as well. Kyaking, intertubing, caving, and rock climbing are all available. Once we checked into our $5 a night guesthouse, we had lunch ($3 total for the two of us) and rented innertubes to float down the river. The day was beautiful - a blue sky with fluffy clouds shaped like dragons and buddhas kind of day. It was amazingly peaceful and serene to float under the huge cliffs, past waterbuffalos in the fields and men throwing their fishing nets into the river from long thin wooden boats. As I floated I thought about the people who have lived here in this valley for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. I wondered what it would be like for my whole world to be this river and these cliffs.

Along the way we stopped at a cave with a small stream flowing out of it. We were able to ride our innertubes into the cave and explore around a bit. Very cool.

As we were nearing the town, we started to hear shouting, drum beats and rhythmic whistle blasts. We rounded the last bend in the river to see 5 or 6 long boats with about 20 people in each rowing and racing down the river. When we were in Vietiane a few days ago, everyone was telling us about the annual boat races to be held there next week. So we assumed that we were witnessing Viang Vang's final preparations for that huge event.

We made it back to our hotel room and dried off, then headed out for Beer Lao and dinner by the river at sunset. A mellow end to a very mellow day.

Making Amends

Posted by Stuart at 11:40 AM on February 11, 2003

"Reconciliation is the Opposite of War"

Or so says the Jhai Foundation. I first heard of this group a few weeks ago from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle and I must say that what they are doing is incredibly cool. The group is led by a former Vietnam Vet and his desire and vision to help the people of Laos who he bombed 30 years ago.

The group has two main projects now: 1) helping the Lao farmers grow organic coffee and sell it online, and 2) giving small villages access to the Internet. The second project is the most interesting, I think (even though I did buy some coffee). They have built and are installing a "solid-state, low-wattage computer that can be powered by a foot-crank, a high-bandwidth wireless network, and support for village small businesses." Wow... somone who is actually using technology to improve people's lifes but is not looking to make a profit.

The Jhai Foundation website is a good read for now. We'll see how good the coffee is later.

No Launch for Jhai

Posted by Stuart at 01:38 PM on February 15, 2003

A few days ago I mentioned the Jhai Foundation's work to build a computer to wirelessly access the Internet from the jungles of Laos. Unfortuately, their hoped-for launch this week didn't happen. They aren't giving up, however, and I am sure they will eventually succeed.

The SF Chronicle has an excellent article on the ups and downs of the project so far.

Muang Ngoi Neua

Posted by Stuart at 11:25 AM on October 16, 2005

As usual, I can not stay in the familiar for too long, so I jumped on a bus out of Luang Prabang and into the unknown as soon as possible. The bus took me three hours north, through the mountains to a small village called Nong Kiew. From there, I took a boat up the Ou River to an even smaller village called Muang Ngoi Nuea.

There are no cars in Muang Ngoi Neua, because there are no roads that go there. All transportation is done by river. It will stay this way for a long time, I�m sure, for very tall mountains enclose the village on all sides.

Due to the remoteness, you might imagine that accommodations would be primitive but cheap. You would be right. One night in a bamboo bungalow with an amazing view of the river and the mountains on the other side will set you back US$1 per night.

What do you get for $1? Not much. You get a mosquito net, a thin mattress and blanket, a shared toilet with a big basin of cold water to splash on yourself as a shower substitute, and electricity from a generator from 6-10 PM.

You also get a great view of the green mountains and the river, busy with boats going here and there. You also get roster wake-up calls intermittently starting from around 4 AM.

The village itself has one main dirt road that runs parallel to the river. There are a few restaurants and guesthouses sprinkled along this road, hoping to make a little money from the new found tourism. But, as with the guesthouses, you should expect your meals to be exquisite. Signs outside the restaurants say things like, �Today we have chicken and duck�. Or, even worse, �Today we have buffalo only�. (Not that buffalo is bad; it just limits your menu options.)

It looks like one restaurant taught all of the other restaurants how to cook food for tourists, because they all have exactly the same menu. And they cook the dishes the same way, sometimes in bizarre ways such as adding peanuts and thin noodles to larb gai. And all of them take about 45 minutes to serve your food. Needless to say, the whole dining experience in Muang Ngoi Nuea takes a little bit of getting used to.

But I spent a fabulous two nights there, doing a whole lot of nothing. I did hike about 30 minutes through the jungle to visit a cave, and swam in the Ou River a bit. But other than that, I just walked around and watched the villagers live their life. Or else I laid in my hammock on my bungalow balcony and watched the river go by.

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